Industrial control systems have become very modular in nature, leading to the evolution of larger control racks to house the increasing number of modules making up a typical control system. Implementing control systems requires interconnectivity between the different control modules and racks creating added complexity for the user configuring and operating the system. Larger control system enclosures are also required to house the additional racks and modules.
In addition to the greater complexity and size of the control system hardware, customer demand for greater functionality while maintaining granularity with respect to purchasing control hardware has increased the lead time and expense for control system manufacturers for developing new functionality and the associated controller modules for housing the new functionality. The industrial control system market is also demanding the flexibility to stage new control designs and configurations without the requirement of purchasing all necessary hardware to test a proposed control system design.
In another aspect, the market for industrial control systems is demanding lower overall costs for control systems, including lower costs for hardware and more flexibility to modify the control system after initial installation. The control system market is also demanding the flexibility to incorporate control and communication modules from different vendors without the expense of contracting one of the vendors to integrate the disparate control and communication modules.
In summary, the control system market is demanding a flexible control system that is not dependant on proprietary hardware and has the flexibility to allow the end user to select the control hardware platform from one vendor and control or communication modules from another while having the overall system communicate in a seamless manner.